Blogs from Alton, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

We have spent the last 6 months down sizing, relocating furniture to different places of storage, selling stuff on, cleaning and painting the house we have called home for the last 7 years. Tomorrow we are going to say good bye to the childern here in Alton before catching a train to Gatwick airport staybing over night in a local hotel before starting our jounrey to South America and beyond. We are slighty apprehensive and very excited at the same time it is like being a child again waitng for Santa Claus to come on christmas eve night full of mixed emotions about what will be. Everyone family and friends have been suppportive about our mid life crisis or as we like to say gap year T minus 2 days, its getting close, first stop Madrid ... read more

I saw one of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen in Hampshire England. My Jane Austen class went on our study trip to Winchester and Chawton. It was amazing and one of the best days of my entire time here. We started out at the house on College Street in Winchester where Jane Austen spent her last days and died in Cassandra’s arms. Though we did not get to go inside the house because it is a private home it was interesting to see this house that she spent her last months in. Cassandra had brought Jane to Winchester in 1817 to seek medical care but the doctors could barely help with the pain much less with the real problem (which is now believed to be Addison’s disease). The house is a simple building ... read more

Larni, Lynne and Judy left before 7.30am and had an easy run until the we left the M11 and headed onto the London ringroad, M25 but our dream run soon ended as we found ourselves in heavy traffic all going in the direction of London. It was after 10.30 am when we finally arrived at Eggers School in Alton where Lynne was warmly greeted by her friend Felicity Martin, head teacher at Eggers. We chatted with Felicity before being taken on a tour of the school. Felicity walked us into classrooms where she asked demonstrated how students understood the core values of the school and that there was zero tolerance for bullying. Students were enthusiastic when asked about their school. There was a very strong ethos about doing your best and determining targets. “Attitude equals altitude”. ... read more

Geo: 53.5757, -2.2376Entertainment event sponsored by work... read more